Caribbean Cowboy: Under the Caribbean Sun, Book 4 (6 page)

“Britt needs to go to college with Nina. They have it all planned out.”

He turned around, Leila’s adorableness making him feel even guiltier about wanting to say no to Holly. “Did you talk to Britt? Because she has no desire to go to school in Anchorage. She wants out of Alaska entirely. Asked me to take her back to Oregon with me. You know how that feels, that need to break free from the family expectations. Take Britt with you.”

“And do what with her? Let her run wild in the Caribbean? I’ll have to babysit her, find her a job, worry about where she is. I just want someone there for me if I jump off a hormonal cliff.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “So you want me to put my career on hold to babysit you? You know I’m only a few years away from being able to buy my own ranch.”

She nodded and took a step toward him, shoving her hands into the pocket of her black
Lady Kaya
hoodie sweatshirt. He glanced down at the
Bragging Rights
emblem on his T-shirt. It hadn’t taken either of them long to get outfitted in the latest clothes from the Hansen fishing boats. Though he adored his mother, Nik avoided wearing anything with the name of the boat Pops had named after her. He’d never puked on Brand’s ship because he’d never been forced to sail on her. By the time they’d had
Bragging Rights
up and running for Brand, Nik had secured ranch jobs that allowed him to keep his feet on dry land every summer.

“Nik, I want you to come to Anguilla. Figure out if it’s farmable before Harm sinks any more money into it. Help the economy while you earn enough to buy a ranch wherever you want at twenty-eight instead of thirty. I helped you come up with that life plan, remember? I’m not asking you to let go of your dreams. If you hate it, I’ll figure something else out. But come take a look at the land, give Harm some ideas if you don’t want to tackle the project yourself.” She gazed up at him, giant eyes more watery than he cared to see.

“I have a job, Holly. Taking the week off to come up here was hard enough. I can’t leave the ranch in a lurch.” He’d been sitting on this very deck, trying to think of when he might break away again to see Janny. Logistics weren’t in his favor.

“You’d have to leave when you bought your own ranch, right? You’re working on a family ranch right now. You said there’s really no future there.”

He really needed to stop talking to his sister. Apparently, she kept an arsenal of information in her head in case she needed to win an argument. “If this is really what you need, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll go to Anguilla if you can get Britt to go to college.”

Holly jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Guilt seeped through her excitement. He hated letting down his boss, and that his decision might be more than slightly motivated by the chance to see more of Janny.

The door swooshed open behind him, punctuated by the buzz of Pops’ hair clippers. “I found you, boy. Time to make a decision.”

“Whoa there, old man.” He pulled Holly to the side as he turned to face their father, who was flanked by their teenaged brothers, Finn and Adam.

“You need a haircut and I need a foreman for a build. I’m aiming to get both settled with you.”

Dread swirled in his gut. “You’re building a new boat? For who?”

Pops turned off the clippers. “For me.
Lady Kaya
is trustworthy enough for a new captain.”

“So you’re getting a new boat and Brand has
Bragging Rights
. The fleet’s only so big. You can’t build a new ship for each of your sons.”

“I don’t have to build one for you. Don’t worry about who gets what. Just go to Seattle and supervise the build. I can’t spare any of the crew.”

“Sorry, I’m going to have to pass on this drama festival. Getting a second boat for Brand was one thing, but how do you decide who gets the third boat? Erik because he’s the next oldest? That’s just going to piss off Geirr. And who’s going to run the deck, work as engineer? Nope, I don’t want any part of this.”

“Nik, you’re a member of this family, and it is about time you start contributing. You saw all that went into the build of
Bragging Rights
. I’m not asking you to fish, or help your mother with the business side, just go run a build so the ship will be ready faster. They’ll take their sweet time if there’s no one riding them.”

“I’m not running your build.”

There it was. The guilt of being a wayward child who would rather stay ashore than farm the sea. The pain used to be sharp, but over the years, Nik had let some of that go, because all he could muster up was a sad sigh.

“Nikolas, don’t be selfish.” Pops flipped on the clippers once more. “Cow shit isn’t going to disappear. You can get back to shoveling out stalls once
Legacy
is at sea.”

Finn ducked back in the house and returned with a barstool and the kitchen scissors.

“
Legacy
. I like it, but my answer is still no.” Nik peeled off his
Bragging Rights
T-shirt before assuming the position. He’d be lucky if the old man didn’t shave him bald. “Besides, I’m going to Anguilla to make sure Harm is good to our girl.”

For once, Lars Hansen seemed speechless. Nik figured Holly had provided him with the only excuse their father would take without a fist fight.

Kaya Hansen leaned out the still open door and pulled her long braid over her shoulder. “What in the world?”

“Nik’s going to make sure Holly settles into married life, so I’m giving him a haircut. He’ll sweat to death if he has that mop in the Caribbean.”

His mother’s smile could light the world. “Have everyone line up. I’ll start with Nik and get through all of you.”

Lars scratched what was left of the hair on his head. “Holly said no haircuts.”

“That was just for the photos, Pops. I didn’t want my family to look bald.” She took the shears from Finn. “I’m thinking this could be fun. Just like old times.”

Nik closed his eyes, the sharp snip setting his teeth on edge. One of these days, he was going to have to learn to tell women no.

Chapter Five

Nik heard tires carving their way through the dust of the bare road long before he saw Holly’s sleek black sedan covered in ashy powder. He’d been on Anguilla for months, but oiling down the road wasn’t even on his to-do list. This project bordered on the impossible, and he didn’t want to waste time or funds on anything that didn’t bring the concept of a ranch forward. Hell, he was still working on dirt.

Holly parked between the big black truck Harm had given him to drive and the junker of a pickup he’d filled with horse manure this morning. He left the forty gallon drum of compost tea he’d been stirring and headed her way.

She climbed out of the car and wrinkled her nose. She glared at him over the convertible top. “Can you move your shit? I brought lunch, but this travelling outhouse has to go or I’ll puke.”

“Aye, Captain.” He reset his straw cowboy hat on his head as he jogged to the pickup. Since it didn’t have doors, he slid right in and moved it to the far side of what would one day be the front pasture. He hoped.

He made his way back to the low table and Adirondack chairs he’d built from old pallets where Holly had begun setting up their lunch. His neglected stomach growled for attention as he spied the barbeque ribs and tubs of fruit. He checked his filthy hands and wished for running water.

“I brought these too.” Holly plopped a pack of baby wipes on the table.

He sat and tried to ignore the scent of fresh baby as he wiped his hands. “Isn’t it too early for you to be carrying a diaper bag?”

She shrugged and grabbed a tub of fruit. “I figure if it gets shit off a baby, it’ll work for getting shit off your hands.” She swirled her fork in the air. “Explain to me again why you’re a garbage collector?”

He tucked into the fall-off-the-bone ribs, eating three before answering. “I’m not a trash man, I’m a magician. A ranch is only as good as the grass it feeds its cows. I have no grass, just sand and limestone dust. So, in order to make this work, I have to make dirt, so I can make grass, so I can raise cattle. No compost means no dirt, no grass, no ranch.”

Holly sighed. “At least you have a plan now. Remember when you first got here, and we showed you this place and you started laughing?”

“No telling if the plan will work, but if it does, I’ll wind up with a doctorate in agriculture. I couldn’t do this without the help of the university.”

“Dr. Hansen. Val is going to be pissed if you’re a doctor before he is.”

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Then our dear little brother needs to get off a fishing boat, stop deferring medical school and get his life going.”

“It’s not easy to walk away from a job that pays that much. We wanted out of Alaska entirely. Val wants to go back and work at the clinic.”

He turned his attention back to the food, because he hadn’t eaten in a day and because he didn’t want to bicker about family politics. He’d come to Anguilla to make sure Holly felt supported through her pregnancy, and fighting over choices their siblings made wasn’t going to accomplish that.

“Remember my friend, Janny, that you danced with at the wedding? She’s flying in today.” Holly spoke as he finished the last rib.

“Kristin has mentioned that every time I’ve seen her for the last week.” Janny had been on a rotation in Boston after her Greek vacation. He hadn’t asked about Janny, though his sister and her friends had dropped hints like the feral Anguillan goats dropped their dung—heavy and everywhere. He’d spent the better part of the last two months trying to figure out a way to make a ranching operation possible on an almost-infertile island. Janny’s return was like the oasis he wasn’t sure he’d see correctly.

“Does she know you’re here?”

“Who?” He didn’t have anything to say about the Janny situation, partly because he didn’t want to discuss it with his sister, but mostly because he didn’t have any answers to give.

“Don’t be an ass.” Holly narrowed her gaze and shot him a shrewd look that made him smile. She hated to not be in the know. “Janny. I think something happened with you two.”

“Do you really?” He lifted his chin and smiled wide. “I think you’ve been listening to the blonde one.”

“Kristin is convinced something happened. But Janny denies it, and I can’t tell if you’re being cagey or just enjoy messing with us.”

“You know the answer to that.” By the position of the sun overhead, he guessed it was about one, and he hadn’t even made it through half of his mental to-do list. He grabbed a tub of fruit and tucked in, because stopping for dinner wasn’t on his agenda.

“Are you going to see her tonight?”

“Depends on if she shows up here.” He focused on the tart sweetness of the tropical fruits and everything he had to accomplish before he ran out of daylight.

“Nik, I’m asking if you’re going to make some kind of move, because I don’t really think now is the right time.”

He raised a brow but didn’t bother with a response. Holly would keep talking without any encouragement from him.

“Janny doesn’t know that Kristin is moving in with Antonnis, or that Sebastian is thinking of moving here. So I’m just saying, she has a lot going on, and hooking up with you again isn’t going to help things.”

“What’s the deal with Janny and the Prinsens?” He stacked the empty containers and then leaned back in the chair, the wood hot against his bare back. He didn’t want a slice of Janny’s family drama. Hell, he didn’t even care to partake in his own. But if she needed a soft place to fall, or a warm place to hide, hell, he’d be her huckleberry.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. Harm says there’s history with Sebastian and Janny’s mother, and I know she had her concerns about the guys not being serious about relationships. But she’s coming around. With the guys, at least. She has no patience for Sebastian, but then Harm barely tolerates him, and they’re related.”

Holly didn’t see it, and it had been so clear to him. Sure, he’d had a lot of time to sit and ponder these last few weeks, but that mirrored animosity he’d seen with Janny and Sebastian at the wedding, that wasn’t about history. And those haunting clear-blue eyes. He couldn’t recall the eye color of most of the men he’d ever known, but he knew Antonnis and Sebastian’s blue gaze matched Janny’s.

“You’re infuriating, you know that?” Holly rose, smoothing the pale pink dress she wore. If he didn’t know she was pregnant, he never would have guessed. “You look at me like you’re listening, and I can tell by your smug expression you don’t plan on taking my advice.”

He nodded. He hadn’t traded hemispheres to steer clear of Janny. He just wasn’t sure what it was he wanted from her. Yet.

“You sure you don’t want to have a sleepover for old times’ sake?” Janny grinned at Kristin, glad to be back in her own house even if it did feel strange without any of her best friend’s things here. They’d lived together for over a decade—at boarding school, college and here. But Antonnis had bought Kristin a villa within walking distance to the school where she taught kindergarten. A best friend couldn’t really compete with new love.

“Let’s plan on it for the weekend when I don’t have to be at work so early. Maybe after the engagement dinner.” She pulled her blonde braid over her shoulder and sat up straight, as if she were about to rise from the couch and head home. “Or you could come stay with us. There is a rooftop deck where we can watch the sea and drink punch.”

And watch them swoon over one another. Gag. Janny was doing her best to get used to Antonnis, but he was still a Prinsen. And in her book, that would forever mean not to be trusted. And yet her dearest friends had all hitched themselves to Prinsen men. The inevitable downfall made her shudder.

“You have the weekend off, right?”

“It’s scheduled that way.” After being away from the hospital for two months, she doubted she’d be free. Just because she wasn’t on the schedule didn’t mean she wasn’t expected to be there. And after being a guest in someone else’s hospital for so long, she wanted to get back on her home turf and see patients she couldn’t help but care about because she knew their story. “I’ve spent all our time telling you about Boston. Catch me up on what’s been going on at home. Any medical emergencies I should know about?”

“Medical, no.” She twisted her braid and glanced out the window.

Janny leaned forward. “Oh, something fun must have happened. You might as well tell me the gossip. You know I’ll find out at the hospital tomorrow.”

Kristin cleared her throat and stood. “Maybe we should have a drink. I put champagne in the fridge.”

“Okay, sis. You’re scaring me. What kind of news would I need alcohol to stomach?” She knew the answer before she finished speaking. “Sebastian’s here, isn’t he?”

Kristin crossed the room and then pulled open the fridge. “What makes you say that?”

“You’re trying to get me to drink, for one. Plus, you’re being shady. You’re not the secrets type.”

Kristin closed the fridge with her hip and set the bottle of champagne on the counter. “Which is why it’s been so hard on me to not tell Antonnis that you’re his
sister
.”

Jannis had spent too much time thinking about the situation in the lonely hours of her time away. “So tell him. But also let him know I have no intention of ever discussing it. The truth is quite different from the fiction Sebastian tries to sell people. Your conscience can be clean and I don’t have to deal with Prinsen bullshit. Win-win.”

“Just like that?”

“You’ve known for almost twenty years. Sebastian’s secrets aren’t worth keeping. Personally, I’d rather not know my DNA came from such a bastard, but it is what it is.” She sank back into the sofa, her pulse kicking up. She didn’t want to have to deal with the situation, but she didn’t want her best friend to feel torn about it.

Kristin rushed to the couch with a hug that nearly popped Janny’s head clean off.

“You’re being a little extra right now,” Janny said, trying to squirm her way into some breathing space.

“I know. I’m just so relieved,” she said before squeezing close again.

“I’m going to need you to get it together.” She laughed in spite of being treated like lunch for a boa constrictor.

“Right. You’re right.” Kristin released her hold but stayed close, the way they used to sit as teens telling secrets. “There’s something I should tell you before someone else does.”

Her heart jumped. “You’re pregnant?”

“What? No. I mean, it wouldn’t be a bad thing. After the wedding. This is about you. Kind of.”

“Well, then you should kind of tell me.”

“You remember Nik? The guy you left Harm’s wedding with after fighting with your dad?”

“Sebastian is not my
dad
. We share DNA.” She counted to four before her heart beat again. It had taken her weeks to put her memories of Nik in a box, to lock them down under the weight of never again. Yet the mere mention of his name and the intensity of the way she’d felt with him came back in full force.

“Anyway, Nik is here.”

“Visiting Holly?” Why did her voice have to go all pitchy? And how in the world was she going to see him again without revealing how shaken she’d been by their encounter. She’d never allowed herself to be that vulnerable and couldn’t sacrifice the reputation she’d built here for the momentary gratification of mind-blowing sex. Because that’s all it had been. Kristin shook her head. “He’s here, on the east side of the island, Harm has him trying to make a cattle ranch.”

“A what?” The bad-boy tycoon couldn’t be a cowboy too. She’d spent every free moment trying to shut Nik out of her head, reading everything in her to-be-read folder about cowboys and professors instead of bikers and billionaires. It had almost worked, but now with him close enough to touch…

The words kept coming out of Kristin’s mouth, but Janny couldn’t understand a word. Her one indiscretion half a world away had followed her home. Why would he do that? Had he felt it too? That undeniable longing for more, the primal sexual bond.

She refused to hope. Refused. She wouldn’t breed that kind of disappointment.

“I know you said leaving the reception with him was for show, but I didn’t want you to be shocked when you heard. Everyone is talking about him.”

“Why?” So many times, why.

“No one really understands what he’s doing, or what Harm is up to buying up all that land. It’s nothing but scrub brush and trees out that way. He’s clearing parts of it, and then piling food waste in other parts. The stories of what their plans could be are getting rather elaborate.”

“What do you think he’s got going on?” She forced her breathing to slow though her pulse raced as if she’d just finished a ten-mile run. No telling what a billionaire biker wanted with the barren side of Anguilla. Except he wasn’t either of those things. How could she have such a solid connection to who he was and yet not know a thing about what he did?

“Harm wants to see if Anguilla can support its own agriculture instead of importing so much. It’s just the stories about why Nik’s here that are getting outlandish. He’s camping out by Slick’s old place. I haven’t been out there, but I’ve heard he’s fencing the parcels as if it’s one property.”

She gave her best nonchalant shrug. She almost couldn’t believe it worked. But there was no reason to push. Kristin didn’t have any of the answers she needed. She faked a yawn, though she wouldn’t be able to rest until she saw Nik and could make sure he wanted what had happened in Alaska to stay in Alaska.

Janny hadn’t been to Slick’s place since before college, yet she remembered every turn on the unmarked dirt road. She’d actually never met Slick, but island mythology said she’d been a poet who’d welcomed all artists to her sparse homestead. Until a wealthy painter had decided she was his muse and whisked her away on his yacht. Who knew if the romantic story was true, but local teens used to flock there, hoping to find a bit of their own escape.

It had been the place to party, but a hurricane five years back had sent waves washing over the entire island. The abandoned clapboard house hadn’t stood a chance. Once the house was gone, people had stopped coming around the undeveloped roads. Goats and iguanas had taken over, consuming what vegetation the dry side of the island sprouted. Over a low hill, a small fire glowed in the distance.